Last modified: 2002-02-16 by joe mcmillan
Keywords: brazil | clothing | bikini | law |
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Fretting over whether the Union Jack should be on
tea-towels? Worrying over real estate agents' use of the Stars and Stripes
in their marketing? This report from Fox News is about flags being on an
unusual item...unfortunately there are no pictures with the report:
BRASILIA - They come in crochet, Lycra, cotton and even coconut shells. They are striped, spotted, psychedelic or plain. But Brazilian senators say the notorious "dental floss" bikinis favored by local beach goers cannot sport the national flag.Submitted by David Cohen, 14 August 1999 Is all flag-waving necessarily good flag-waving? Is this a civil liberty issue? Does such use of flag designs represent a liberalisation of society or a degradation? Are flags, in particular, receiving less respect than they formerly commanded, or is this occurring pari passu with an apparent loss of respect for other icons and institutions? Is it symptomatic of a decline in chauvinist nationalism with globalisation? Is this a good thing? What respect would remain for flags if, for an extreme example, you could buy toilet-paper thus decorated? Should vexillophiles fight this sort of thing?
A Senate panel has approved a proposal to ban the use of the flag on bikinis and in any other "morally degrading" setting, a spokesman said Thursday. The proposal was prompted by complaints from Brazilian military officials, who say beach fashions in the fervently Roman Catholic but famously body-conscious nation have gone a step too far.
"One cannot admit the use of the national flag in situations which are not recommended for the sobriety and the dignity of a symbol of the nation," the Senate's Constitution and Justice Commission said in a statement.
Brazil's flag (a yellow lozenge on a green background featuring a blue orb with stars) is widely used as a symbol of national pride, appearing on everything from hats to key rings, especially during crucial soccer matches. But local model Luciana Morad, who shot to fame by having a baby with Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, caused an uproar last week when she and her son appeared in glossy gossip magazine Caras wrapped in nothing but the national banner.
The proposed law, which was approved by the commission Wednesday, would ban the direct use of the flag on any item of clothing or underwear and as a pattern for curtains, napkins, tablecloths and drapes, among other things.